Rebound headaches

I'm new to this site. Thank you for being here. I'm in the middle of one of my bad migraines. Usually get three to four a week! I think I may have rebounds, because I got to this point of having so many, around 15 years ago. My neurologist had me get off of all medication for several weeks. I remember the agony I went through then, and frankly, am afraid to have to go through that pain again. But I did get relief, and stayed with taking meds only two times a week after that. I just want to get to that point again without the horrible, disabling pain for weeks.

Does anyone know what to do for the pain while getting off of meds ? HELP

Discuss with your doctor if he is willing to prescribe something. Some folks find temporary relief from a course of steroids...I've heard of starting that a the same time you stop taking a medication which is causing rebound. Have you been trying preventatives?

Another route is starting a preventative before stopping the medication in hope that it will help. You could also ask for something to help you sleep. Sorry you're having to do that. I guess I'd focus on the result and not the process. Best wishes.

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In this case you should be hospitalized for a while. I too have rebound migraines (three rebound migraines per day) and my three neurologists have recommended for me to be hospitalized and taken off ergotamine.

It's nothing serious, they just keep you in the hospital to avoid failure of trying it at home.

Can you taper yourself down to twice a week? It should be doable to go from 3-4 to 2. See if you can skip your abortive for less severe migraines. The key things to avoid rebound is to space out the usage of your abortive.

I REALLY appreciate all your replies. As for preventatives, I've tried Topamax, for a year, but didn't see much difference, and had to stop because of the side effects. Gabapentin was another one which didn't do anything, but drop my blood pressure to a dangerous level.

I've had these migraines since I was a little girl in California. Found out later that they are a side effect of a blood disease called Anti Phospholipid syndrome. That means I am lacking a protein in my blood that doesn't let clots normally dissipate as they do in most people. I had a stroke in '07 and that's when they found I had this blood disease, after being diagnosed with MS for twenty years. So now I'll be on Coumadin for the rest of my life, and can't take anything with aspirin in it.

I think the advice to taper off to two times a week might work. I'm taking Cafergot which is the only thing that has worked for me. Oxy and Morphine don't work.

Last Friday I went all day without Tylenol or Cafergot. I really did good that day, and thought 'I can do this'. Then Saturday I had a migraine and just used ice on my temples plus oxygen off and on all day, which didn't help. Then Sunday I woke up with vomiting and ended up at the ER that afternoon to get hydrated and help with the migraine. They gave me Reglan, Benadryl, and something else which I had seen in some of these posts. I usually got a narcotic, so I thought I would try this. After an hour and a half my migraine went from a 9 to a 4. I was hoping to get rid of it completely! It didn't get any better over night so in the morning I took Cafergot and after three of them I finally got rid of it. So thanks for all your input.

First congartulation for sticking with all the pain when trying to get rid of rebound. I am sure this was not easy decision to make, so I am glad that you are benefiting from the results already and keeoping things under control.

It is a shame that your neurologist did not suggest any help for you at the time when you were in such pain, but yes, a short course of steroid like prendisone can be extremely helpul in such circumstances. Also you can get injections of DHE45, which is very useful at breaking the cykle of the constant pain. You can ask for one of those solutions in case you need to do it again. But I certainly hope that you will not have to for a long, long time.

If you stay with us and read people's posts here, you might find some more ways of dealing with this nasty condition.

BTW s.turby is a spammer, and has been reported as such so beware that his "advice" cannot be relied on since he is trying to sell this stuff.

I once had to get out of the rebound cycle and it cost me quite a lot since I had to quit my job to do it. I didn't take any medication at all. I was shocked to notice improvement over a few weeks. I had thought it would take months. Another thing I noticed was that not all the migraines were full blown migraines. I would medicate them thinking they were going to erupt into full blown migraines but some were rebound headaches and they were different. They were more chronic and long lasting and yet didn't always become as intense. This made it easier to not take medication.

Rebound headaches are real and do exist. Back when I had to do this years ago there was debate. Do people now accept this?

Yes, all the current HA literature talks about rebound HA and MOH. If anything the pendulum has swung too far that way and there is a kind of hysteria about rebound, w/ some clinics recommending abortives not be used more than twice/month and theories about cross/rebound between different classes of medicines.

The fact is it's very elusive -- one can't identify whether a given HA is a "regular HA" or a rebound HA. If you can do an empirical test and decrease your abortive usage, and you find you then get fewer HA's, that suggests you were in a rebound cycle.